Iraq’s Premier Endorses a Recount of the Vote

BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki endorsed the mounting calls for a recount of Iraq’s parliamentary election, as the latest results on Sunday showed his main competitor with a slight lead.

President Jalal Talabani, using more direct language, also called for a recount on Sunday.

The appeals by Iraq’s two highest government officials added to a rash of complaints related to how the March 7 election was conducted and how the votes were tallied. Each of the four leading political coalitions in the election has either alleged widespread fraud or called for a recount in what has materialized as an exceedingly close race between Mr. Maliki and Ayad Allawi, a former prime minister.

On Sunday, with 95 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Allawi’s Iraqiya alliance led Mr. Maliki’s State of Law coalition by about 11,000 votes out of some 12 million votes cast, according to figures released by the Independent High Electoral Commission, which oversees elections.

While the overall totals are important, mainly for symbolic reasons, the provincial totals will determine which coalition gets the chance to form the next government. In that race, Mr. Maliki leads in 7 of Iraq’s 18 provinces, compared with 5 provinces for Mr. Allawi. Seats in Parliament are allotted based on vote totals in each province, rather than on the national total.

The commission said complete results would be released Friday, once the most serious fraud allegations had been investigated. But it could still be weeks before the hundreds of smaller complaints are investigated, the results certified and parliamentary seats allocated.

Still, informal bargaining on the makeup of a governing coalition has already begun, and it will most likely begin in earnest on Saturday.

Despite the calls for a recount, the election commission again rejected the idea on Sunday. A spokesman said the commission would conduct its own investigation, but that it would be impossible to recheck each ballot as some parties had demanded.

Elections officials have pointed out that the count is being monitored by international observers, as well as by representatives of each political party.

Mr. Maliki’s statement, which did not directly call for a recount, invoked his position as commander in chief of the military and seemed to imply violence would ensue without a new count. In a message posted on his Web site late Saturday, he said that election officials were obligated to respond to calls for a recount, including by members of his coalition.

He said a response from election authorities was necessary to “protect political stability and to prevent a deterioration of the security situation that could lead to a return of violence.”

His message came shortly after election results released Saturday night showed his coalition had fallen behind Mr. Allawi’s, after having been ahead the previous day. Last week, when he was leading, he dismissed allegations of fraud that had been made by other political groups, saying irregularities had not been significant enough to affect the result.

In the southern city of Najaf on Sunday, 10 governors, all members of Mr. Maliki’s coalition, held a rally to demand a recount. One sign read, “No, no to the stealing of people’s votes.”

But Intisar Allawi, a member of Mr. Allawi’s Iraqiya coalition, which has registered its own complaints about alleged election irregularities, said that Mr. Maliki’s message “represented a clear threat to the election commission.”

“This kind of statement could take us back to terrorism and violence,” she said.

Mr. Talabani’s statement on Sunday called for a recount to “avoid any confusion or doubt” about the results.

Although the presidency does not wield the power of the prime minister, Mr. Talabani, a Kurd, is seen by many Iraqis as a more neutral figure than some of the politicians who have been calling for a recount lately.

But Mr. Talabani may have his own reasons for wanting a recount. His party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, is part of a Kurdish political alliance that is trailing Mr. Allawi’s coalition in Kirkuk Province by about 3,000 votes. Kirkuk, which is contested by Kurds, Turkmens and Arabs, sits atop billions of barrels of oil.

Duraid Adnan and Omar al-Jawoshy contributed reporting from Baghdad, and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Najaf.

A version of this article appears in print on March 22, 2010, on page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: Iraq’s Premier, Trailing His Main Rival, Endorses a Recount of the Vote. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe